IV Post

San Diego, California - At the Foro César Chávez (César Chávez Forum), sponsored by the Love Library and the Aztec Shops at San Diego State University, more than 50 students, faculty, and community members heard Dr. Rogelio Reyes, Professor of Linguistics at SDSU-Imperial Valley Campus, recount his personal experiences as an activist in the Chicano struggle for liberation of the 1960s and, more generally, the impact of the farm workers movement on the social status of Spanish in the Southwest.

Within the context of linguistic rights as a research subject, Reyes compared the linguistic situation of Spanish in the Southwest before and after the social upheavals of the 1960s as well as with that of other linguistic minorities of the world - la raza calé (called gitanos or gypsies by outsiders) in Spain, the Finnish migrant populations in Sweden, etc. 

This first experiment in inviting scholar-activists to speak of their life experiences as they relate to their research was so novel and well received that several in the audience expressed the hope that the Foro César Chávez will become an annual tradition at SDSU. 

For further information, contact forum organizer Dr. Margarita Hidalgo, telephone - (619) 594-8015, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it